Stock-car gate



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TTORNE'YS Nova 2 1926. mama N J ELDREDGE swoon CAR GATE Filed Dec. 9. 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I i INVENTOR gag/M 42 40 4/ WORM/4N J Lime/0 A'ITORNEYS Patented Nov. 2, 1926.

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NORMAN J. ELIDRIDGE, or GRAND IsLAnD, NEBRASKA.

STOCK-CAR GATE.

Application filed December The device of the present invention while capable of a wide and varied field of utility is primarily designed for use as an adjustable gate or partition for stock cars.

An object of the invention is to provide a device of this character which may be solectively moved to divide a stock car transverselyinto stalls or compartments, or which may be selectively moved to proper position to act as a closure for the door way of the stock car. I

A further object of the invention is to provide a combined gate and partition which may be manufactured with comparative economy, which may be readily installed in stock cars as conventionally constructed, which will be simple and practical in construction, rugged and durable in use, which may be easily manipulated for movement to the various positions above noted, and which may be readily locked in any adjusted position.

\Vith the above noted and other objects in view, the invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts, as will be more fully hereinafter set forth and pointed out in the claims. The invention may be more fully understood from the following description in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein V Fig. 1 is a fragmentary sectional plan view of a stock car illustrating diagrammatically two positions of the gate or partition.

Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation of the gate or partition, together with its supporting rails and carriage.

Fig. 3 is aview similar to Fig. 2, but showing the gate swung open, and indicating in dotted lines another position which the gate may assume.

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view on the line 4-4; of Fig. 3, portions of the gate being broken away and in section to expose the bolt operating mechanism, and portions of the car body being indicated in dotted lines.

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view through the gate on the line 55 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional detail view through the gate hinge .on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a sectional detail of the latching mechanism.

In the drawings I have used the reference character 10 to indicate a stock car formed 9, 1925. Serial No. 74,380.

with side walls 11, end walls 12, and door ways 13. Secured at spaced intervals to one side of the car are hangers 14, these hangers preferably being secured at a higher elevation than the top of the doorway 13. As"

best seen in Fig. 4, the hangers include arms 1 1 lying against and bolted to the car wall, and offset arms 14 spaced inwardly from the wall ofthe car.

Secured within the hangers 1e are a pair of rails 15, these rails being connected to the arm 14- and the arm 14? respectively, and including oppositely facing flanges 16 at their lower ends entering notches 17 in heads 18 projecting upwardly from a sliding carriage 19.

By virtue of the engagement of the heads 18 with the rails 15, the carriage 19 may be manually slid along the rails to any desired position. Upon the carriage is hung a gate ill or partition 20 preferably of hollow sheet metal construction. The carriage 19 at one end includes a depending bracket construction 21 offering a pair ofvertically spaced arms 22 mounting a hinge pin or knuckle 23 upon which is secured a sectional sleeve 24 9 extending upwardly from one corner of the gate. Thus the gate is free to pivot on the hinge pin 23 so that it may be moved to a position extending transversely of the car.

as a closure for one of the doorways of the stock car. \Vith the gate swung to position transversely of the car, it will define with the end wall 12 of the latter, a stall or compartment for cattle.

Means are provided for latching the gate in the position of Fig. 2, or in other words, when the gate is swung out of the way, against the side wall of the car. This means may-conveniently include a depending arm disposed at the opposite end of the carriage 19 from the hinge pin 23, and carrying a latching element 31 adapted to pass through a slot 32 in an upright 33 fixed to andprojecting above the top of the gate 20 at the free end of the latter. A bolt 34 guided for sliding movement in brackets 35 fixed to the upright 32, is normally urged upwardly by coiled spring 36, and is adapted to enter a notch 37 in the latch 32. It will be noted that this latch is provided with a or so that it may lie flatly against the side c amming face 38 which acts to depress the bolt 34 as the gate is swung to the position of Fig. 2, whereby the bolt will spring upwardly into the notch 37 after it has cleared the camming surface 38. A suitable handle member 39 may be utilized for manually retraoting the bolt when it is desired to swing the free end of the gate away from the carriage.

It is obviously desirable to lock the gate transversely of the car body in various adjusted positions, whereby to vary the size of the compartments defined by the gate and the end wall of the car. It is to be noted that the hollow sheet metal gate is reinforced by a number of horizontal solid bars 40, and solid vertical bars 41 disposed Within the sheet metal sides of the gate, and to which the sheet metal sections are bolted. The horizontal reinforcing bars 40 offer bearings for a vertical rock shaft 42 adapted to be operated by handle member 43 connected to a block 14 fixed to the rock shaft. Clearance for movement of the handle member is provided by cutting away one of the sheet metal sections as at 45. Fined to the rock shaft are a number of crank arms 46,

movementi'n the vertical reinforcing bars 41. The sheet metal portions of the gate are cut away at 49 to provide clearance for the movement of the bolt operating links 47.

Movement of the handle l3 from one eX- treme position to the other, is adapted to shift the bolts from fully retracted position within the gate to the fully projected position of Figs. 4 and 5; in which position the ends of the bolts will enter sockets 50 in the walls of the car. Preferably bracing beams 51 which may be disposed in either horizontal or vertical position are provided with the sockets 50 with which the bolts interlock.

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that I have provided a combined gate and partition for stock cars which satisfies the objects of the invention above enumerated. It is to be understood however, that various changes and alterations might be made in the general form and arrangement of parts described, withoutdeparting from the invention. Hence I do not wish to limit myself to the details set forth, but shall consider myself at liberty to make such changes and alterations as fairly fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim 1- 1. A hollow gate of the class described, including a rock shaft mounted centrally thereof, bolts guided for'sliding movement in the ends of the gate, and operative connections between the rock shafts and bolts including crank arms on the rock shaft, and links connecting the crank arms and the bolts.

2; Ahollow gate of the class described, including a rock shaft mounted centrally thereof, bolts guided for sliding movement in the ends of the gate, and operative con nections between the rock shafts and the bolts, said connections including crank arms on the rock shaft, and links connecting the crank arms and the bolts, a handle member on the rock shaft, the gate being cut away to provide clearance for the movement of the handle and links.

3. The combination with a freight car, of tracks secured to the inner face of one side wall of the freight car, a gate carriage slidable on the tracks, hangers depending from opposite ends of the carriage, a gate pivotally mounted on one hanger and adapted to be swung transversely of the car, to define with the end wall thereof a 'wall or compartment, and complementary latching means carried by the gate and the other hanger,

whereby the gate may be'selectively latched t0 the carriage when not serving as a parti- Non MAN J. nnnninon.

so I 

